BEST ICE CREAM PARLOR Minneapolis 2005 - Crema Cafe

There are so, so many reasons to name this Lyndale neighborhood sweetheart Best Ice Cream Parlor. There's the ice cream, of course, and the sorbet, the sherbet, and the ice cream-based desserts, all blended on the premises in small batches from top-flight sustainable ingredients and in killer flavor combinations like Cabernet-chocolate, balsamic-Morello cherry, and Crema's signature espresso-kissed crema. There's the ever-seductive pastry case, the recently inaugurated brunch and lunch service, and your choice of seating on the tiny oasis-of-calm terrace (a slice of Rome spitting distance from Lyn-Lake!) or at tables along the front, facing the most prettily arranged, constantly abloom boulevard garden in the Twin Cities. Those are all swell reasons, but for our money the very best reason to write this item, right now, is that perhaps it will be read by the fine family behind the churn as a 160-word plea for a more frequent appearance of Crema's best-ever flavor invention, black pepper-cardamom, and we will receive deliverance.